Ponte (rione of Rome)

Ponte is the fifth rione of Rome, and is located in Municipio I. Its name (meaning "bridge" in Italian) comes from Ponte Sant'Angelo, which connects Ponte with the rione of Borgo. This bridge was built by Emperor Hadrian (and originally named after him Pons Aelius) in 134 AD to connect his mausoleum to the rest of the city. Though Pope Sixtus V changed the rione limits so that the bridge belongs now to Borgo, not to Ponte any more, the area has kept its name. Its logo is obviously a bridge.

In ancient Rome, the area belonged to the IX Augustan region called Circus Flaminius, that was a part of the Campus Martius. Nero built another bridge, that was called Neronianus or triumphalis because the Via Triumphalis, the Triumphal Way, passed over it: Starting with Titus, the victorious Emperors celebrating their Triumphs entered Rome marching through it.

Nero's bridge was also called Pons Vaticanus (meaning "Vatican Bridge" in Latin), because it connected the Ager Vaticanus to the left bank, later Pons ruptus ("broken bridge"), because it was already broken in the Middle Ages. In ancient Rome there was a port that was used to carry the materials for temples and great works to the Campus Martius.

The active life of the area went on during the Middle Ages and the modern period, and this activity deleted almost all signs of ancient Rome in the rione. The population increased because many people moved from the surrounding hills to Ponte because of the lack of water in other parts of Rome, since it was then possible to drink the water of the River Tiber. Moreover, the rione was on the edge of Ponte Sant'Angelo, thus all the main streets of Rome were leading there and the area was full of pilgrims going to the Vatican. That is why it was full of locals, restaurants, shops of holy objects, etc.

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